Luis Rosa Jr.: An Up And Coming Contender

By James Stillerman: Super bantamweight fighter, Luis “KO King” Rosa Jr. (12-0, 6KOs) looks move up in his weight class as he takes on the always dangerous, Jhovany Collado, (4-6-2, 1KO) in a eight round bout at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, CT on Friday March 1st. His fight is on the undercard of the main event of Billy Dib vs. Evgeny Gradovic and will be televised on ESPN Friday Night Fights.

“I`ve had an exceptional training camp and I feel great, both mentally and physically,” said Rosa Jr. “Collado is a good fighter and his record is deceiving because in his last fight he defeated Rafael Vazquez who was undefeated (8-0, 6KOs) going into the bout and he has won two in a row, however, I`m ready for this bout and I`ll win.”

The young up and coming boxer from New Haven, CT got the 2013 year off to a good start by defeating Derrick Wilson (9-3-2, 3KOs) by way of a eight round unanimous decision on January 23rd.
“I was extremely impressive with my last performance against Wilson because not only did I defeat a quality opponent but I dominated the fight, went eight rounds for the first time as a professional and it marked a nice step up in competition for me,” said Rosa Jr.

Rosa Jr.`s early professional success can be contributed to his great amateur career where he complied an impressive 95-10 record. He garnered the 2007 National PAL Tournament Amateur Championship, was a silver medalist at the Ringside World Championship and was a member on the U.S. boxing team from 2009 – 2010.

“My amateur experience has certainly helped me thus far because I was able to fight against great competition from American to international boxers and I was able to perfect many of my boxing skills such as counter and power punching, better defense and being a smarter overall fighter,” said Rosa Jr. “I fought against a couple of fighters in the amateurs that are doing good things in this division and I was able to do well against them, so I know in the future, I`ll be able to do significant things in the professional ranks.”
Rosa is a pugilist to look out for in the near future. He`s extremely young at only 21 years old, has great power, good speed and defense and had an outstanding amateur career. Granted he has not faced exceptional competition, however, he has won every fight he has fought, he has increased his level of competition and with his hard work ethic, dedication and ring smarts it should take him to a world title bout in the near future.

“My career has gone well, but, I`ve a lot more work to do. I`m stepping up the competition and climbing up the 122 pound weight class,” said Rosa Jr. “This is a great division with several exceptional fighters, however, I know in a couple of years, I`ll be a world champion.”

He`s hoping to keep his undefeated record intact against Collado and then fight as often as he can this year to gain more experience and exposure at the super bantamweight division as he attempts to fight for a regional or youth title bout at the end of 2013 or early 2014.

“I want to thank my team for getting me ready for this fight, to all my fans for their continuing support of me and I`m ready for a significant 2013,” said Rosa Jr.